OK, here's the question - plain and simple. If someone else were your sibling besides Imoen, do you think Imoen would still remain the most popular NPC? Assume everything else stays the same with the NPC's, but simply that someone else was your sibling. All of the NPC's would be the same class, have the same personality, have the same statistics, dialogs, everything.

Regardless of which way you vote, I'd love to hear the comments on why you think she would still be most popular, or why she would no longer be the most popular.

Poll Information
This poll contains 1 question(s). 52 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: Imoen Poll (52 votes.)

Would Imoen still be the most popular NPC if she wasn't your sister? (Choose 1)
* Sure, she's the bomb! - 60% (31)
* No, but I can't ditch my family - 40% (21)

Why didn't you add the choice: "Doesn't matter, I always dump her" :D ?
I'll stop making comments on Imoen from now on. But I still don't understand why people like her :confused: .

Come on people! I want to hear those who are defending Imoen tell me why she would still be the most popular NPC.

If you vote no, your reason is self-evident. I want to know why you still think she's the best. As I have said before:

Why does Imoen always win? She is a so-so thief, and an above average (but by no means great) magic-user, who is moderately funny, has no romance (un-modded), and is not present for the first half of SoA.

So what's the deal here?

Well, Imoen is not my favorite but I would have to say that she is one of the more tolerable NPCs because she has a somewhat normal/balanced personality. Everyone else tends towards extremes.

Well, actually Yoshimo falls into the balanced catagory as well, which probably explains why a lot of people initially liked him and were upset when they reach a certain plot development.

Imoen and Yoshimo are both generally cheerful and have a sense of humour without being completely over the top like Minsc, Jan or Korgan. Me, I don't mind extremes but it is sometimes nice to have someone around who isn't either nuts or ultra-straight-laced.

Would Imoen still be the most popular NPC if she wasn't your sister? Assume everything else stays the same with the NPC's, but simply that someone else was your sibling. Two different questions ;)
--- -- -
If Imoen were "Imoen", but just not my sibling, she no doubt would still be my fav character in BG2.

If "Imoen" were, say; Haer'Dalis or Jaheira, I doubt s/he would be my fav... If I understood correctly.

...Everybody ... Everybody in the house of love... :roll:

@ Verne

The reason the question in the poll doesn't completely match the description that follows is because of the character limit on poll questions. I could not fit the question:

"If someone else was your sibling besides Imoen, would she still be your favorite NPC?"

The intent of the question was suppose that Imoen is still Imoen i.e., that she is a childhood friend present in BGI and BGII, but that someone else is a Child of Bhaal, is kidnapped by Irenicus, subsequently rescued, etc. She would still be the same class, have the same attrivutes and all that. Assume that someone else is your sibling, like Haer Dalis', Jaheira, or whoever. It doesn't matter who you pick.

Then I'm asking if some other character was your sibling besides Imoen, would Imoen still be your favorite character?

The reason I'm asking this is because I'm wondering if the fanfare regarding Imoen is simply because of her being another Child of Bhaal and the plot line concerning her, or if people just genuinely like her character. If you feel that anyone who was your sibling would serve as well - i.e., if someone else was kidnapped and a Child of Bhaal, then it means you really like the plot line more than the character. If however, you think that you would like Imoen the best even without that plot line, then chances are you like her character the best, regardless of the plot. (For example reverse Imoen and Nalia's roles in SoA and ToB - would now Nalia be your favorite?)

As I said in the NPC poll thread - Imoen is most behaviorally realistic character. Yoshimo/Cernd/Jaheira and (in distant second) Minsc/Jan will fall into this category as well. Everybody else is too extreme (and therefore too artificial for my taste). Minsc and Jan, while funny, just dont have personalities that I like. But in poll I would have placed them on 4-5th place as well. Cernd is too minor of a character. Out of remaining 3 I like Imoen and Yoshimo personalities best and Imoen, Jaheira and Yoshimo bring most to the game. Between Imoen and Jaheira - I like both characters but I do like Imoen personality more (sibling or no sibling). Now if Yoshimo had an option to survive through whole game, was your sibling and had some very crucial role later in game (plot-wise or romance-wise), then it would have been a very close call between him and Imoen (for me). It would have depended on how well Yoshimo plot would have been executed.

But if everything stays the same plot-wise and everyone in your part became bhaalspawn - I would still would end up choosing between Imoen and Jaheira and would go to Imoen side based on personality.

due to her teletubbie-like comments all the time she should have wisdom max 3. if she wouldn't be the PC's relative i would neverever let her live more than 30 seconds

Like Nocturnal Nomad, I just can't figure out how anyone could have Imoen as their favourite NPC.
She's one of the most annoying NPCs out there.

Maybe it owes to the French translation. Dunno. She's even more whiney than Aerie. Yuck.

arutha they both are whiney in english version and german version, too. yeah, real heroes with bag of tears and longbow of stutter and belt of despair and the allmighty robe of the archcriers.

Well, I don't think she would be my favorite in that case, but still, she's cool.

Yes, I completely agree with Nocturnal Naomad. :heh: I hate Imoen, and I always drop her, in fact, I don't even take her through Irenicus' dungeon with me.

I'm glad so much people agree with me, but where are the Imoen-fans :confused: ? Seeing that she won the contest and most people, according to this poll, think she's the bomb, there are not much people actually defending her. The only argument I've read is that she's well-balanced. That's a good point but I need a lot more to convince me.

I have already posted my reasons for not thinking Imoen is not all that great of a character. I was hoping for people to expand upon possible reasons for liking her. My thinking is that she is only slightly more functional than Nalia, and no one likes her, so it can't be her classes and statistics that people like.

My theory on this are that people like her because she is an intrinsic part of the storyline (in which case any BGI original who turned out to be a Bhaalspawn would easily be able to take her place) and that she is familiar because she is a BGI original. But if that is the case, then you like the storyline - making you a BG fan - but not necessarily an Imoen fan. I love the storyline, and I will readily admit that Imoen is an intrinsic part of it. But ANYONE could have been another Bhaalspawn from BGI, and the possibilities would have been vast if more of the BGI original characters were written into BGII as playable NPC's.

In my next game through as an evil party, I will go to Spellhold and accept her into my group on a very temporary basis. I will do this to kill her, as anyone playing an evil character would do. As a Bhaalspawn, other Bhaalspawn represent a clear and present danger to you, so if you're evil it's just good role-playing. So I'll kill her, and then pick up whoever I asked to leave (and told to wait there) while I killed Imoen.

Since an Imoen fan is being called upon to voice the reasons for her popularity, I'll give it a try:

From a powergaming perspective
Thieves often have a neat bag of tricks like Assassination and Use any Items, but are they absolutely essential? Imoen takes care of the two most important thieving needs, Trap disarming (with the help of one item or another) and unlocking doors. And she just plain rocks as the "single-class mage" Two characters for the price of one, which frees up a slot for another priestly character or melee fighter.

From a roleplaying perspective
Roleplaying wise, a great party is a collection of individuals who get along for the most part and are willing to defend each other to the death, but also provide sharp and interesting contrasts.

You all know the kind of pedestal I place Jaheira upon. I also admire Keldorn a lot. But let's face it. Keldorn is your basic humorless straight-man. Jaheira is for the most part lacking in humour, though when the opportunity presents itself, her humour can cut with an edge that would make Jan blush. Adventuring's a serious business and they treat it as such.

In contrast, Imoen represents a contrast infused with innocence, cheerfulness in the face of incredible evil, and a light-hearted spunky type of humour that can make Keldorn go red in the face. Add to that her prowess as a mage, and the overall package is so ... She's second only to Jaheira among my favorite NPCs. No longer being my fighter/mage's little sis' wouldn't change that.

Incidentally, during a battle with Firkraag, I had the pleasure of listening to Imoen proclaim "My blade will cut you down to size!" That voice that's half cockiness, and half naive innocence. It just had me cracking up!

Afriad I'm not much help in revealing Imoen's popularity either. I liked her okay in BG1, but in BG2 she's nervous and whiney.

Yoshimo wins in my *most normal, easy-going, fun person to be around* category.

I can't figure out why Imoen's popular except for storyline either.

Finally I am satisfied. Beren has finally made a good arguement. I do try to role-play whenever possible, and is arguement regarding the role-playing perspective of using Imoen is very convincing. (The powergaming bit was pretty good too, but I wouldn't have been sold if it was just that.)

Your question is not an easy one. While it is easy to imagine another NPC as Child of Bhaal, trying to see Imoen in a different role is a little bit trickier. Many, if not most, of her dialogue lines are related to her relationship with your character, so taking that away would make her a bit shallow. However, if her personality would be properly expanded, I believe she would still be my favourite NPC. Her innocence and her light-hearted approach to adventuring are a welcome addition to my party. And good aligned NPCs tend to be too much on the serious side of life (Minsc being the exception here, of course !)

I would have to say yes. Imoen is very versatile, having a decent find traps ability, and still is a good mage. I don't see having missed out on 40,000 or however many XP points from the first game is a drawback. Her stats are great for a mage and she has a good Dex bonus to boot which frees up the bracer spot for another type, other than bracers of AC#. Still, I think it would have been better to have a romance, but since the Mod has been made, I am happy :D ...just need time to play it :mad: ....

[ July 17, 2003, 15:31: Message edited by: dAS ]

Well, I think she's whiny and annoying. So there. But sometimes I have to use her. Oh well. Jaheira is worse and luckily not essential.

Right, I finally stumbled across this thread. If all the other characters were exactly as they were then it wouldn't even come out they they were your sibling. To work that into the plot the entire game would change drastically.
Imoen makes an almost perfect character to work as your sibling, and has been worked brilliantly into the plot. There is no one else that could possibly take her place in that without it been really lame.
Imoen's character is also bought into the game so early, giving you more of a chance to get to know her. She is the main characters best friend and is always there (unless matters out of her control seperate her from you) to crack a joke or be cheery when all has gone to hell.

Definately whiny. I drop Imoen at the first opportunity (and if I'm playing evil, then kill her - which is what Saerevok tried to do to me ;) ). I think that Jaheira is more "family" material if you ask me. But the game designers chose Imoen. Oh well...

If I hadn't played BG1, I wouldn't like her all that much. But having played a lot of BG1 before BG2, I like her a lot. Her character fits the story well, and I don't find her whiny. She has a history from BG1 that greatly influences how I perceive her in BG2. From a powergaming perspective, there are better mages out there. From a role-playing perspective, continuing from BG1, I see her as having great emotional value. I'm rather surprised that so many people express so much eagerness to dump, or even kill, their own sister and childhood friend.

I play an evil PC, but I've never refused to take Imoen along, mainly for the sake of continuity from BG1 and the fact that she will never leave you no matter how atrocious your character's behavior is.

Gameplay wise, she is a decent thief and her spell-casting abilities complement Edwin's and Viconia's nicely.

From a roleplayer's point of view, she acts as my PC's 'good' twin and the sole source of humanity in my band of scoundrels. If my PC is so confident in his own power that he can accept Sarevok as a companion, he should have no problem having Imoen as well. Besides, every self-respecting villian should have a sidekick, a role which does not suit Viconia, Edwin, Korgan or Sarevok very well. Yoshimio was a good sidekick, but he left just as Imoen arrived to fill in his shoes.

All in all, Imoen is a regular in every of my parties and she is definitely a solid, if not overwhelmingly powerful character.